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Skin Scan for iPhone checks your moles for signs of skin cancer

As summer kicks into full swing for half the globe, the warnings to keep yourself protected against the sun’s dangerous rays are sure to crank up a notch too. While it’s always worth keeping an eye out for moles on your skin which could be dangerous, how do you do that effectively?

Skin Scan is a new iOS app that is designed with a single purpose in mind – keeping track of the size and shape of your moles. Just snap a picture, load it into the app and it will be analysed. Keep uploading more pictures of the same mole over time and it will track the changes in size and shape to help you understand if there’s anything to be worried about.

The app uses “fractal map tissue analysis” and what the Romanian team behind it call a fully automated, self-improving analysis algorithm. Skin Scan certainly doesn’t claim to replace the eye of a well-trained doctor, and indeed the app can even tell you where your nearest surgery is, should you be worried.

This isn’t the only skin analysis app to emerge in recent weeks. Skin of Mine is designed to cover a wide range of skin diseases, although Skin Scan sells itself as being the only iPhone app to focus on skin cancer prevention and skin mole analysis.

Does it really work? Well, if the mole you’re worried about has a lot of hair near it, you may find yourself trying multiple times to get a photo clear enough for it to work with. Once you have though, it’s certainly useful enough to monitor a mole, say, while you’re on holiday and can’t get to a doctor.

At the price of £5.99 / $9.99 (or local equivalent) in the App Store, it’s certainly not the cheapest app out there, but if you’re worried about a mole and can’t get to a doctor right away, this could well be worth atry.